Clinical Benefits of Using a Smartphone Application to Assess the Wound Healing Process in a Feline Patient – A Case Report

The aim of this paper was to determine whether digital imagery can be employed in veterinary medicine to measure and analyze wound healing dynamics. A smartphone application (ImitoMeasure) was used to capture, measure, and analyze the metatarsal wound images in a cat patient. The smartphone app was used to evaluate the wound area, width, length, and circumference at the time of topical treatments. Further analysis of the measurements taken by the ImitoMeasure app revealed significant correlations among all analyzed parameters. The day of treatment was inversely correlated with all the parameters of the wound, showing the healing progress over time. Also, the width was the most influential parameter (P ≤ .05) when assessing wound area. Thus, the app provided a noncontact, easy to use, and accurate smart wound measurement solution. Additionally, this case report describes the treatment of a cat with a severe chronic metatarsal wound and extensive soft tissue loss using a commercially available silver calcium alginate dressing (Askina Calgitrol Ag, B. Braun). The dressing was changed every 2 days, in the first week of treatment, and then every 3 days until the cat was discharged, 21 days later. Granulation tissue formed rapidly, from the fourth day of treatment and continued to expand in the entire wound bed; epithelization process started since the 16th day of treatment and mature scar tissue could be observed 21 days postinjury.